(Photo above) Assembly Member Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), a former educator and CTA State Council representative, presents an Assembly Resolution on Read Across America Day to CTA Board Member Toby Boyd, an Elk Grove kindergarten teacher, during ceremonies on Monday.

For the first time, both Houses of the California legislature on March 2 celebrated Read Across America Day by presenting the California Teachers Association and our national affiliate resolutions honoring the organizations’ efforts to encourage parents and community members to read to children.

Dr. Michelle Renee, an Annenberg Institute of School Reform researcher, tells California legislators’ staff members at an informational briefing Friday that charter schools are public schools that should be open to all state youngsters. The briefing was hosted by CTA, the California Federation of Teachers, the California Labor Federation, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Public Advocates.

(Photo above) CTA President Dean E. Vogel, a kindergarten teacher, tells more than 15,000 Los Angeles teachers and community members that their 325,000 CTA colleagues stand with them.

Approximately 15,000 members of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and supportive parents, community members, and students packed Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles Thursday for a massive rally spotlighting the union’s “School’s LA Students Deserve” campaign and the bargaining stalemate that caused Los Angeles educators to declare negotiations impasse last week.

Teachers from multiple schools throughout San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) rallied outside several sites Thursday and Friday mornings to generate support for their Fight for 5 campaign to ensure student improvement and success.

An attempt by a "Parent Trigger" group to shut an elementary school in Anaheim and have it re-opened as a charter school was thwarted after it was determined that petitioners failed to meet the required 50 percent parental threshold, petitions failed to include all information required by law, and the school wasn’t eligible to be targeted.

(Photo above) CalSTRS Board Members and CTA members Dana Dillon and Harry Keiley focus intently on the presentation by Former Vice President Al Gore to the retirement system governing body about the threat posed by carbon emissions and steps being taken to move the nation and the world toward “green energy.”

On Friday in West Sacramento, former Vice President Al Gore made a powerful and detailed presentation to the governing board of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), which has been leading discussions on sustainable investing at a global level for almost a decade. CalSTRS was the first U.S. institutional client in the Vice President’s company, Generation Investment Management. in 2007.

More than 350 members of the Stockton Teachers Association gathered on Wednesday to learn the status of their 31-month battle to win an excellent education for every student.

During the meeting, Chapter President John Steiner, a high school teacher, and bargaining team members provided a status report on negotiations with the district. The chapter’s organizing team spelled out steps members will be taking in the weeks ahead to pressure the district to make students the top priority and to put Proposition 30 funds into the classroom, as voters intended when they passed the ballot measure.